Australian Folklore 29, 2014 Australian Folklore 28, 2013 87

The Whale Road: Transitioning from

Spiritual Links, to Whaling, to Whale
Watching in Aotearoa New Zealand

A. Asbjørn Jøn
ABSTRACT: The paper treats of the central place of the whale in New
Zealand culture and history, from the lore which the Maori brought to New
Zealand from Hawaiki. Further, whaling was an early bond between the South
Island of New Zealand, and Sydney. History, Art, and deep-seated belief are all
key components of the 'Whale Road'.

Whales and whaling have been hot topics for global news and
international debate in recent years. Legal conflict between whaling
nations—such as Japan, Norway and Iceland—and anti-whaling
nations—such as Australia and New Zealand—as well as anti-whaling
conservation organizations, has sparked a keen increased public interest
in whales specifically and cetaceans generally. As just one example of
that increased public interest the Animal Planet cable television channel
has produced and aired a documentary-like reality television series called
Whale Wars. Whale Wars premiered on November 7, 2008 and has run
for six seasons, following the work of Captain Paul Watson—who
founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The lobbying and legal
efforts of organizations and anti-whaling governments has also led to the
International Court of Justice agreeing with an action brought by
Australia, with New Zealand in support as an intervening state, that
Japan’s whaling did not meet the criteria of scientific research—which
resulted in Japan being ordered to cease their Antarctic whaling
programmes.1
Cetaceans have always held a very special place within the history,
traditions and lore of New Zealand. A case can also be built for a
segment of New Zealand’s economic activity possessing an almost
continual link to whales, in one form or another, right up until the present
day.

1
31 March 2014 Judgement: Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan: New Zealand
intervening), General List No.148 (International Court of Justice, 31 March 2014).
<http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/148/18136.pdf> [accessed 20 August 2014].
88 A. Asbjørn Jøn

The legendary histories of Māori iwi (tribes) such as Ngāti Porou

(from the east coast of the North Island) and Ngāi Tahu (sometimes
called Kāi Tahu—this is the primary Māori iwi of the South Island)
include the lore of Kahutia-te-rangi, or Paikea Ariki Moana,—the whale
rider. (Interestingly oral histories record that Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Porou
are descended from two brothers, Porourangi and Tahupōtiki.) To the
early Māori whales provided sustenance, tools and arguably a source of
heat and light. Some of the earliest European settlements in New Zealand
were shore whaling stations—and those stations were important sites for
establishing contact between Māori and the takata pora (ship people)
who would go on to become Pākehā New Zealanders (or non-Māori New
Zealanders). Notably those shore whaling stations were also a key
element in the developing pioneer economy of New Zealand. There are
obvious parallels between the migrations of whales and the migrations of
the Polynesian peoples as they moved towards New Zealand. In more
recent times whales and whale-lore have featured as subjects of visual
arts, novels, films and eco-tourism operations—highlighting the deep
cultural links between New Zealand society and whales. The most
popular (and infamous) New Zealand political blog in 2014 (Cameron
Slater’s Whale Oil Beef Hooked—http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/) even used
a whaling related name—although the choice of name had no connection
to the whaling industry.

A Glance at Some Māori Myths, Legends and Oral Traditions

One legendary history of the Māori migrations to New Zealand is the
story of how Kahutia-te-rangi travelled to New Zealand from Hawaiki on
‘the back of his taniwha ancestor, Paikea, whose name he then adopted in
commemoration of the great exploit’.2 That tradition tells audiences that
a man named Ruatapu became enraged when his father, Uenuku—a
Hawaiki chief, used a hair comb of some significance for Kahutia-te-
rangi (his half-brother) when dressing his hair for the launching of a
canoe, yet expected Ruatapu to provide his own comb. Consequently,
Ruatapu plotted to drown Kahutia-te-rangi. Ruatapu bored a hole in their
canoe and covered it with a plug in preparation to drown his step-brother.
When the brothers travelled out to sea together Ruatapu removed the
plug and let the canoe sink—allowing everyone to drown. Kahutia-te-
rangi however began to recite a powerful karakia (sacred incantation)
and called forth a mythic spirit, or taniwha (aquatic spirit beast often
with a guardianship function), to protect himself. The taniwha appeared
in the form of a whale and carried him to the safety of Ahuahu (Great
Mercury Island—New Zealand). The tale of Kahutia-te-rangi, or Paikea,

2
Gudgeon, W.E., ‘The Maori Tribes of the East Coast of New Zealand’, Journal of the
Polynesian Society, 4.1 (1895), 17-32 (p.19).
The Whale Road: Transitions 89

is deeply significant to New Zealanders and has been an inspiring

element in a range of modern cultural texts, including Witi Ihimaera’s
critically acclaimed novel the Whale Rider (1987) and Niki Caro’s award
winning film of the same name (2002).

‘Tutarakauika—Guardian Whale’ by Todd Couper

http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?artists_id=9

Whales were viewed by Māori as kaitiaki, or guides and guardians.

The tale of Tūtarakauika tells us that—like the taniwha-whale who
rescued Kahutia-te-rangi—he was also a taniwha who appeared in the
guise of a whale to Māori. Tūtarakauika helped lead the Tākitimu canoe
on its voyage from Hawaiki to New Zealand—providing us with another
legendary example of spiritualized whales assisting in the migration
process. Later, after arriving in New Zealand, a tohunga (or shaman)
from the Tākitimu canoe made offerings to Tūtarakauika leading to the
taniwha becoming a guardian for the Wairoa district’s chiefs. It is said
that sometimes Tūtarakauika even returned to help drowning Māori of
the Wairoa district to shore. Notably the accomplished sculptor Todd
Couper, of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi, carved a whale themed piece called
Tutarakauika: Guardian Whale which was shown in Vancouver’s Spirit
Wrestler Gallery from 2003. Couper’s artwork is a stylized whale tail
with a distinct link to Māori carving traditions but a modernized feel.
The carved lines of Couper’s whale tail are augmented with detailed
symbolic black work motifs that clearly link to not only carving
traditions but also tā moko (or traditional Māori tattoo) motifs. In the
book Kāhui whetū—Contemporary Māori art: a carver's perspective
Couper explained that he carved Tutarakauika: Guardian Whale as a
way of exploring his whakapapa (genealogy) and his tribe’s legendary
history—as well as recounting the tale of Tūtarakauika.3 This artwork in
part evidences the fact that Māori artists, and people in general, are still
interacting with and valuing those traditions—and that they remain a
3
See ‘Tutara-kauika’ in Roi Toia, Todd Couper, and Carolyn Lagahetau, Kāhui whetū -
Contemporary Māori Art: A Carver's Perspective (Reed Books, 2006).
90 A. Asbjørn Jøn

valid part of the cultural spectrum of Māori. Notably many gift shops
throughout New Zealand also sell whale tail pounamu (New Zealand
greenstone or jade) pendants.
Historical grounding for the kaitiaki role of whales on sea voyages
from Hawaiki to New Zealand are probable. Māori would have most
likely been able to follow pods of whales during migration voyages as
the travel speed of whales, three to five knots, is slow enough that the
twin hulled sea canoes would have easily been able to keep pace.4
Furthermore, Kōpū (Venus), Te Waka o Tamarereti (Scorpio) and
Māhutonga (the Southern Cross), all appear in the night sky at roughly
the same time that whales begin their annual migratory voyage south.
Māori may also have believed that the whales were travelling to other
feeding grounds—possibly around other islands—based on their
observations of natural whale behaviour around the Hawaiki region.
Whales also appear in a raft of other significant Māori tales. Another
commonality within these texts is that whales often possess an elevated
status—an example being the legend of Tinirau and Kae, a very old tale
that exists in multiple forms not only in New Zealand but also elsewhere
in the Pacific. From that myth we learn that the moderated eating of
whale meat was culturally permissible, yet more widespread and
consumptive eating of whales is not. That principle is illustrated through
Tinirau gladly sharing a slice of his (still living) pet whale with Kae—yet
being deeply offended when Kae intentionally had the whale slaughtered
and fully eaten, sparking a lengthy process of utu or revenge. The late
Professor Joseph Campbell long argued that a ‘function of mythology is
to support the current social order, [and] to integrate the individual
organically with his group’—a view that was largely supported by his
highly respected colleague Professor Mircea Eliade, who has equally
strongly proposed that the primary function of myth is to establish
acceptable models of conduct within a society.5 It could be argued that
the tale of Tinirau and Kae was a vehicle for presenting the value of
ecological sustainability or kaitiakitanga (guardianship—in this context
for the sky, sea and land), through only consuming a small portion of the
whale population to avoid significant consequences. Equally however,
one could interpret that the same segment of the myth presented the

4
‘In one marking experiment, the average travelling speed of two sperm whales [...] was
2.4 knots for a four-day period’. David K. Caldwell, Melba C. Caldwell and Dale W.
Rice, ‘Behaviour of the Sperm Whale, Physeter catodon L.’, Whales, Dolphins and
Porpoises, ed. by Kenneth Stafford Norris (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press,
1977), 677-718 (p. 697).
5
Campbell, Joseph, Occidental Mythology (Arkana, 1991), p. 520. ‘Because myth relates
the gesta of Supernatural Beings and the manifestations of their sacred powers, it becomes
the exemplary model for all human activities.’ Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality, trans. by
Willard R. Trask (Harper and Row, 1963), p. 6.
The Whale Road: Transitions 91

values of trustworthiness and integrity—which were also held in high

regard within traditional Māori society.
In terms of the Māori oral tradition of whakataukī, or proverbs, there
are several key references to whales—once again indicating the
significance of whale-lore within the broader spectrum of Māoritanga.
‘Ana ta te uaua paraoa’, or ‘behold the strength of a sperm whale’, was
an important whakataukī used to express a challenge and link the
challenger to the powerful image of a whale. ‘He rei ngā niho, he parāoa
ngā kauae’, or ‘to have a whale’s tooth, you must also have a whale’s
jaw’ positioned the holder of the whale’s tooth—in this case most likely
the wearer of a culturally encoded rei puta whale tooth pendant—as
someone who had the strength ‘of a whale’, which was required to
retrieve the rei puta from the ocean. Notably that whakataukī is used as a
critical plot element in the film Whale Rider to indicate the strength and
mana (influence, prestige, power or perhaps honour) of the central
character. In both of those cases the whale is placed in a respected and
elevated position that people aspire to be linked to.
Looking across a range of other Māori traditional oral texts the
exception to the motif of depicting whales in elevated positions of
strength lays in specific waiata (song poetry)—usually tumoto, which
was a form of verse sung to avenge defeats—where the image of beached
whales is used to illustrate the prostration of defeated enemies. In 1902
Elsdon Best, writing for the Journal of the Polynesian Society, recorded
three important instances where the slain were depicted in this way—in
one case regarding fallen warriors after a battle between Ngāi Tūhoe and
Te Arawa at Puke-kai-kāhu (notably this case specifically references the
whales in the land to the south), a second regarding the fallen from a war
between Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Ruapani, and the third was composed by
Te Kaupoke of Ngāti Manawa also regarding war slain. While this
evidence does present a different vision of whales it is possibly linked
the notion that beached whales were offerings from Tangaroa, selflessly
offering themselves for the sustenance of local iwi—and hence in a way
also prostrated themselves.6

Architecture, Carving, Weaving and Traditional Tattooing

Notably ‘relationships with animals among different indigenous
peoples are embedded in subsistence practices, affirmed by the deep
values of mythic narratives, and celebrated in ritual performances.’7
6
See Elsdon Best, ‘Notes on the art of war as conducted by the Maori of New Zealand,
with accounts of various customs, rites superstitions, & pertaining to war, as practiced and
believed in by the ancient Maori’, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 11.3 (1902), 127-
162.
7
Grim, John, ‘Knowing and Being Known by Animals: Indigenous Perspectives on
Personhood’, in A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics, ed.
92 A. Asbjørn Jøn

Anthropologist, Dr Ian W. G. Smith found that ‘ethnographic data do[es]

suggest that seals and whales may have provided not only fresh food
during the coastal hunting season but also oil for heating and light and
stored food supplies for use during some or all of the remainder of the
year.’8 As Smith indicated in his thesis it is most probable that large
cetaceans (such as whales) were acquired through scavenging rather than
direct hunting. Scholars including Smith have suggested that this was as
the sheer size of the creatures would make it difficult for Māori to have
successfully killed them on a regular bases with the level of maritime
hunting technology that was readily available. Arguably however this
was equally related to the Māori weltanshauung which held whales in a
sacred position and viewed their beachings as gifts from their sea god
Tangaroa—as well as significant offerings from the whales themselves.
When we turn to the archaeological evidence and explore artistic
carvings on traditional Māori buildings we see that the barge boards, or
maihi, of many pātaka (food store houses) are covered in pakakē
(symbolic whale) patterns. In many examples a ‘v’ shape is carved
within the mouth of the pakakē to represent teeth—while there are some
cases where the entire mouth is shown to have rows of these ‘v’ shaped
teeth. The carvings usually include humans using ropes to pull the beast
ashore. Notably in many examples we only see the tail of the pakakē,
with the body and head remaining out of view. This provides a good case
for the stylized tail of a whale being a traditional motif for symbolically
depicting the beast.
While on a simplistic level a stranded whale most likely meant a full
pātaka, the use of those carvings can be argued to also suggest a deeper
significance of the whale as not only a food source but also a respected
member of the natural and supernatural worlds whose value to Māori as a
resource offered up by Tangaroa was immeasurable. It should be noted
however that scholars do not believe that Māori positioned their
settlements close to sites of regular whale strandings, and that our
knowledge of Māori subsistence strategies holds that they did not
explicitly rely on whales for success in maintaining food supply levels.
Whale products were instead gathered with reverence towards both the
whale for offering itself and Tangaroa for supplying such a rich gift.
Further to traditional architectural carving links, Paikea Ariki Moana, or
Kahutia-te-rangi, is depicted on Ngāi Tahu marae (meeting grounds) due
to the deep cultural significance of his role as a whale rider to their tribe.
Looking for whale motifs in traditional tattooing, or tā moko,
taratarekae patterns are of deep interest. A taratarekae pattern is often

by Paul Waldau and Kimberley Patton (New York, NY: Columbia University Press,
2006), p. 374.
8
Smith, Ian W.G., ‘Sea Mammal Hunting and Prehistoric Subsistence in New Zealand’
(unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Otago, 1985), p. 4.
The Whale Road: Transitions 93

composed of two parallel lines with usually equi-spaced blacked in ‘v’

elements along the lines to stylistically and symbolically represent teeth.
(Here we should not the way that pakakē teeth were depicted on pātaka
carvings.) Taking on tā Moko is an ancient ceremonial process, with
analogues found in cultures of all Polynesian peoples. The name tā moko
comes from a lizard—and lore suggests it was given to tattoos due to the
way that reptiles shed their skin. The tā moko process was viewed as a
ceremony that signified a sacred right of passage and provided deep links
to not only the iwi but both the sacred and profane worlds through
important symbolism used in tattooing motifs. Many of the stylized moko
motifs could be readily interpreted by a culturally literate reader to reveal
information about the wearer’s life events, status or iwi. The person
undergoing tattooing would be born again with their new tattooed skin—
like the lizard who takes a new skin, a heightened status within their
hapū (sub-tribe, clan or descent group) and iwi, and being a more
desirable mate. The tattoo artist, or tohunga tā tā moko, was considered a
highly sacred person of great significance—even tapu (holy, sacred or
with restriction). This process held deep cultural and spiritual
significance. Whalebone or albatross bone were commonly processed to
make tattooing uhi or chisels.
The taratarekae pattern itself is a very ancient Polynesian motif. It
does include some regional variation in terms of both name and style (as
well as slight artistic variation based on the particular tattoo artist) yet it
is a distinct artistic tā moko motif across New Zealand. In those regional
variations the teeth it represents alter at times—but similarities still seem
to be larger than differences. Taratarekae, in some regions, are viewed as
taniwha teeth. This is significant to present arguments as within the
symbolism rich realm of myth and legend taniwha often appear in the
forms of whales. One Christchurch based tattoo artist, who asked not to
be named, identified that while this motif is used within the current
traditional tattoos of Māori across New Zealand he has found it to be
more common with clients who are geographically affiliated with either
the West Coast or upper North Island regions. He also commented that
whale tails are a feature commonly requested by his current clientele
when seeking Kiwiana tattoos—and that they are usually depicted using
negative space.
It could be argued that the taratarekae teeth patterns bear some small
ancient links to niho taniwha (teeth of the taniwha) patterns on tukutuku
(weaved latice work) panels within wharenui (the communal meeting
house on a marae) and the traditional tāniko weaving on cloak hems.9

9
Rawinia R. Higgins explores some links between niho taniwha motifs on tukutuku panels
and tā moko kauae (traditional Māori female chin tattooing) in ‘He Tänga Ngutu, He
Tühoetanga, Te Mana Motuhake o te Tä Moko Wähine: The Identity Politics of Moko
Kauae’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Otago, 2004), p. 338.
94 A. Asbjørn Jøn

Furthermore, niho taniwha patterns are also commonly found in

traditional Māori textiles work for a wide range of objects including
mats, belts, and clothing. Once again these patterns focus on the teeth of
a spiritual beast, or taniwha, which was known to regularly appear in the
shape of a whale to act as a kaitiaki (guardian) of Māori, presented in ‘v’
patterns similarly to the carving and tā moko patterns discussed above.
Niho taniwha can also be used as a motif to represent the historian—and
hence could be seen as a way to represent a form of cultural
kaitiakitanga. The prevalence of this motif within Māori artistic
expression must further highlight the significance of those concepts
within Māoridom, and by extension New Zealand, society and culture.

Whale-related New Zealand Māori Place Names and Geography

A quick study of New Zealand place names also reveals a number of
culturally significant sites for the relationship between Māori and whales.
Foveaux Strait was named Te Ara-a-Kewa (the path of the right whale)
by Māori, Moutohorā (whale island) is an island off the coast at
Whakatāne, Te Ara-a-Paikea (the path of Paikea) is a whale-shaped hill
on the Māhia Peninsula, and, Whangaparāoa (bay of sperm whales) is a
place name in both Auckland and the Bay of Plenty. Furthermore there is
a spring of white water that flows through the hills around Welcome Bay
and Pāpāmoa called Te Waiū-o-Te-Tohorā (the breast milk of the
whale). Notably the hills themselves are said to be a stranded pod of
whales Māori in myth.
Place names are often considered to be an indicator of either
historical, cultural or spiritual connections between the concepts or
figures within the name and the geographical location or features of the
landscape. When we consider cultures with oral traditions place names
become more significant as they can be seen, when viewed in regional
groupings, as evidence of the folk memory associated with that region
that can collectively tell us a story about the regions settlement or
significant events after the settlement process.
The natural landscape within New Zealand has also been described in
literature and used for film settings due to its connection to whales. In
Ihimaera’s Whale Rider Whangara Island, off the East Coast of New
Zealand’s North Island, is described in terms of its physical shape
resembling a whale—and a spiritual link between the geographic
environment and the beasts is emphasised. This helps ground the text not
only in terms of New Zealand settings and culture, but also as a text that
helps mythacise the New Zealand landscape with traditional Māori
motifs for Pākehā audiences. When Niki Caro came to shoot the film for
his 2002 version of the tale he choose to use that same location because,
in the words of the producer John Barnett:
The Whale Road: Transitions 95

it would almost have been heresy to shoot anywhere else. There are very
physical things that are described in the book – the sweep of the bay, the
island that looks like a whale, the meeting houses, the number of houses
that are present and of course, the people whose legend we were
telling.10

This once more highlights a cyclical link between New Zealanders and
New Zealand cultures with whales and the mythicization of the
landscape based on those connections not only in the period prior to the
arrival of takata pora but also today.

Whalebone Processing for Weapons, Tools and Ornaments

Considering whalebone as a natural resource for the manufacture of
important tools, weapons and ornaments, bone and teeth were processed
by Māori to produce a wide range of products. Research has shown that
‘industrially worked whale bone occurring in New Zealand
archaeological sites was processed using tools which were not intended
for the specific use of processing whales.’11 This ties directly to the
above idea that whales were viewed as a gift from Tangaroa and
accepted graciously when they gave themselves for the good of the
people yet were most likely not actively hunted.
Whale bone weapons, including kotiate, patu paraoa and wahaika
have been found in numerous sites. All three of those weapons are from
the patu, or traditional Māori short handled striking weapon, family. A
patu paraoa is the correct name for a whalebone patu, while a wahaika is
a patu with slight hook shape and a carved human figure near the handle.
The name wahaika is a compound word made up of waha meaning
mouth, and ika meaning fish. Visually the striking end of a kotiate
resembles a split section of a human liver—with the name being a
compound word for just that, koti meaning to divide or cut in two, and
ate meaning the liver. Of rarer frequency there have been finds of
whalebone tiaha (fighting staff) and hoeroa. The Otago Museum houses
a sound collection of traditional whalebone weapons including a splendid
example of a hoeroa, measuring 1320 x 57mm and made from the jaw
bone of a Sperm Whale, which was presented to the museum by Dr and
Mrs Hocken. Hoeroa were used as striking weapon, stabbing spears, or
missile weapons. Māori did not traditionally use bows and arrows so this

10
Barnett, John, in Notes About the Location, press release (South Pacific Pictures).
<http://www.whaleriderthemovie.co.nz/html/location_notes.html> [accessed 5 September
2014].
11
Cunliffe, Emily A., ‘Whales and Whale Bone Technology in New Zealand Prehistory’
(unpublished master’s thesis, The University of Otago, 2013), p. i.
96 A. Asbjørn Jøn

heavy slant toward melee weapons is representative of the general range

of weaponry available.
In terms of common tools we have substantive collections of
whalebone harpoon tips and fish hooks. There are also some examples of
sacred tools made from whalebone—such as ahao. An ahao is a ‘sacred
article, used by the priests in religious ceremonies: they passed it through
the gills of fish offered to the gods, with many prayers.’12 Notably these
tools are also sometimes referred to as purupuru—and under that name
they are used to caulking holes in canoe manufacture. A wide range of
other traditional Māori whalebone tools exist within the collections of
New Zealand museums. As another example The Otago Museum houses
a whalebone whakapapa, or ancestry, stick which was obtained from
Long Beach in Otago. That particular whakapapa stick includes notches
that indicate it records seven hundred and fifty years of lineage. Given
Māori possessed an entirely oral based culture items such as notched
whakapapa sticks and important carving motifs were their only way to
produce physical aids for remembering ancestors and traditions—making
pieces such as this of deep cultural and historical significance.

Koropepe (pendant), 1850-1900,

New Zealand. Maker unknown.
Purchased 1907. Te Papa

When we consider decorations it becomes clear that Māori employed

both the bone and teeth of whales in a wide range of ways. Museums
across the world (for example the British Museum) host examples of rei
puta (also correctly referred to as rei niho), or Māori whale tooth
pendants, and they have been found in sites across the length of New
Zealand. Rei puta were considered status symbols within traditional
12
Newman, Dr A.K., ‘A Very Rare Maori Implement: Ahao’, Transactions and
Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 41 (1908), 216-218 (p. 216).
The Whale Road: Transitions 97

Māori society and marked the mana, or prestige, of the wearer. Generally
it would only be people of great importance who would wear items such
as rei puta. There is some suggestion that a rei puta would allow a
wearer to draw upon the mana of the whale it was drawn from. Koropepe
pendants were also made of whalebone and required great carving skill
to manufacture. Carved in a spiral pattern to represent a coiled creature a
koropepe pendant was worn around the neck—most likely only by a
member of tribal nobility due to their high value. More common
decorative whalebone items include highly stylized hair combs and cloak
pins.

In Sum of the Period Prior to the Arrival of takata pora

Coupling the evidence from myth and legend of a kaitiakitanga
philosophy toward whale consumption, the anthropological evidence for
scavenged whales being used for sustenance, tool, weapon and ornament
manufacture, energy procurement, and the proof of their significant
depiction in traditional carvings on buildings such as pātaka and
marae—as well as the use of whales in place names, it is evident that the
whale was a highly significant beast within early Māori culture.
Throughout that evidence there is a commonality of theme that would
suggest that the giant cetaceans held an almost sacred status—and that
status has been recognised with their achieving a taonga (cultural
treasure) status under the Treaty of Waitangi and a special place in recent
New Zealand legislation.13 This all dovetails neatly into the creation of
an overall big picture view of the significance to whales to the Māori
way of life and culture.

Whales and Seals as a Focal Point for Early Exchanges Between Māori
and takata pora and the Influence of the Weller Brothers
The first sealers of European ethnicity in New Zealand could be
argued to have been members of Captain James Cook’s crew as in 1773
he anchored at Dusky Sound in Fiordland and his crew killed and ate a
group of seals. Generally however we recognise that sealers and whalers
arrived in December 1791 with Eber Bunker (an American captain)

13
‘The Crown acknowledges the cultural, spiritual, historic, and traditional association of
Ngāi Tahu with the taonga species.’ (Section 288) ‘The Crown, having acknowledged the
special association of Ngāi Tahu to the taonga species listed [... must] consult with, and
have particular regard to the views of Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu when the Minister makes
policy decisions concerning the protection, management, or conservation of a taonga
species.’ (Section 293(b)) Humpback, Sperm and Southern Right whales are listed in an
associated schedule titled ‘Taonga Species: Marine Mammals.’ Ngāi Tahu Claims
Settlement. New Zealand Statutes.
<http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1998/0097/latest/DLM429090.html> [accessed
20 August 2014].
98 A. Asbjørn Jøn

hunting in New Zealand waters with the British boat William and Ann. It
is believed that interest in New Zealand as a whaling destination was
‘first roused when British convicts were brought to New South Wales in
Australia and ships needed cargo to bring back. The British government
offered money for whaling, in order to contribute to the training of
seamen for the Royal Navy, and enticed Americans to join their fleet.’14
Historians are aware that Māori began joining the crews of whaling
ships almost as they arrived to the region—with records existing for the
participation of Māori as crewmen on whaling vessels from 1795, and for
a Māori named John Begg to take on the role of pilot for the ship
Mermaid at Rio de Janeiro in February 1796.15
Given a combination of the above discussion of the Kahutia-te-rangi
legends and their links to Ngāi Tahu, the initial sealing in Dusky Sound,
and the arguably wider distribution of whale bone reported in
archaeological sites from the South Island, as compared to the North
Island, the present writer will primarily contain further discussion in this
segment to the South Island.16
In the southern regions of New Zealand, or Murihiku, early relations
between Māori and takata pora were generally amiable, or even friendly,
until the Sealer’s War began in 1810.17 Relations were however repaired
before shore whaling stations were established in the late 1820s. Ship
based whaling and shore based sealing industries flourished prior to the
shore based whaling stations except for a brief lull in sealing during the
Sealer’s War, however, some scholars have attributed that the lull to both
a heavy reduction in seal numbers from the over harvesting of the
preceding years and a reduction in seal fur prices rather than the conflict

14
Phillips, Jock, 'Whaling: Ship-based Whaling', Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New
Zealand, updated 13 July 2012. <http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/whaling/page-1>
[accessed 20 August 2014].
15
Dawbin, W.H., ‘The Maori Went A-whaling: And Became One of the World’s Best
Whalemen’, Pacific Discovery, 7.4 (San Francisco, 1954), p. 19.
16
On the distribution of New Zealand archaeological sites containing whale bone see: Emily
A. Cunliffe, ‘Whales and Whale Bone Technology in New Zealand Prehistory’
(unpublished master’s thesis, University of Otago, 2013), p. 47 (Figure 2).
17
The Sealer’s War began after Te Wahie, a Māori chief, stole several items (including a
shirt—hence the alternate name ‘The War of the Shirt’) from a ship called the Sydney
Cove whilst it was anchored in Otago Harbour and the crew of that ship killed him in
retaliation. Following those initial hostile acts the conflict escalated with reports soon
reaching the Australian media that ‘several boats’ crews in various employs having been
barbarously murdered, and mostly devoured by the cannibal natives.’ See: Sydney Gazette
(30 March 1811), p. 2, repr. in Gaining a Foothold: Historical Records of the East Otago
Coast 1770-1839, ed. by Ian Church (Dunedin, NZ: Friends of the Hocken Collections,
2008), pp. 53-54. The conflict included important episodes at Waipapa Point (in The
Catlins), Dusky Sound and Moeraki. Hostilities were ended and peace established by
1823.
The Whale Road: Transitions 99

itself.18 There is scholarly debate about the location of the first shore
based whaling station as John Guard (an ex-convict from Australia)
claimed that he began shore whaling in 1827 at Te Awaiti in Tory
Channel—yet without conclusive proof of beginning quite that early-
while we do recognise that Peter Williams established a whaling station
at Preservation Inlet in 1828. Notably both of those locations are in the
South Island.
The early ship based whalers and sealers were of largely European
ethnicity (and often sailing out Australian home ports)—with some
lascars and Māori who joined crews—and then shore whaling stations
were once more largely manned by men of European, and a lesser extent,
Māori ethnicity. In the early 1830s, shore based whaling was one of New
Zealand’s most prominent industries in terms of the value that it
generated for the economy and those early stations were established, and
continued to run, for most intensive purposes at the pleasure of the Ngāi
Tahu chiefs. Most of the stations at that time were owned and operated
from either Sydney or Hobart. This rapid rise of whaling however was
built on an entirely consumptive, and ecologically unsustainable, yet
highly efficient business model—where even cows and calves were
taken. That model allowed whaling to quickly rise to prominence within
the region’s economy, yet also was also the primary reason for the
equally rapid decline of the industry.
Generally it is thought that of the southern stations the Ōtākou station,
which was established by Edward, George and Joseph Weller on the
Otago Peninsula in 1831, was the most successful. Notably, the Ōtākou
station of great significance to this study as in 1831 the Weller brothers
established this small yet functional ‘settlement’ some seventeen years
before the arrival of the first Scottish settlers to the Dunedin region—
consequently when considering the early formation of an ‘Otago
identity’ the Weller brothers must feature significantly. It is generally
understood that Edward and Joseph Weller—having migrated from
England to Sydney in 1829—set out in their barque the Lucy Ann for
New Zealand to establish whaling operations. They made land at Te
Umu Kuri, or Weller’s Rock, in the Otago Harbour and quickly
established a nearby whaling station which they called Otago. It was
founded in close proximity to a Māori village – to allow for trade and a
supply of labor—and the two have since merged as Ōtākou.
Those interactions would have facilitated important transferences and
acquisitions of information, culture and technology, between the two

18
See: Jonathan West, ‘An Environmental History of the Otago Peninsula: Dialectics of
Ecological and Cultural Change From First Settlement to 1900’ (unpublished doctoral
thesis, The University of Otago, 2009), p. 175.
100 A. Asbjørn Jøn

groups—including important geographical knowledge and attitudes

toward and knowledge of cetaceans.
The Ōtākou station produced 310 tons of whale oil in 1834 as a peak
season – yet in 1841 it produced only 10 tons and was closed down.
Notably the Weller brothers had been declared bankrupt in 1840, which
is not atypical of the boom and bust cycle of pioneering whaling
operations.
Notably the Weller brothers also aided other prominent Australian
whalers, such as Captain Edward Cattlin. Cattlin, who we primarily
know about from his 1827-1840 journals, worked several whaling ships
in the Pacific. After stints as mate on the John Bull (1827-1828), and the
Alfred (1828-1829), and as master on the Australian (1829-1833)—all of
which sailed north toward Japan with notable stops at the Solomon
Islands, New Hebrides and New Caledonia, after a brief stint on the
Byron in 1834 he took on the role of master on the Genii in that same
year. After several other episodes in New Zealand waters from 8 June
1836 until 24 Oct 1836 the Genii, under the command of Captain Cattlin,
whaled off Port Otago. Cattlin mentions receiving significant help from
his fellow Australian, Weller, in that time.19 In terms of the formation of
identity and the engagement of current New Zealand communities with
past whaling traditions—or figures—this is highly significant as The
Catlins, a pristine and rugged region that runs along the southernmost
eastern section of the South Island’s coastline, were named after Captain
Cattlin. Cattlin managed to purchased a large section of the land within
that region from the Ngāi Tahu chief, Hone Tuhawaiki, on 15 February
1840. Notably Hone Tuhawaiki is also a significant figure in the region’s
history—and was often known as ‘Bloody Jack’. Whilst the New
Zealand Land Commission chose not to endorse the purchase, the region
has come to bear the whaler’s name as his legacy, while The Catlin’s
Jack’s Bay and the nearby Tuhawaiki Island took their names as part of
Hone Tuhawaiki’s legacy.
The impact of the Weller brothers on the development and early
imagination of the region was significant. In the 1860-1870 period a
folksong (writer unknown) titled Soon May the Wellerman Come was
coined. The song’s lyrics highlight the way that many whaling stations
relied upon the ‘wellermen’ as from 1833 ships used by the Wellers
travelled the coast from their Ōtākou base to sell provisions to other
whaling operations. That tune is still performed and recorded by folk
artists today with recent recordings available by artists including the well
known David Coffin, the Celtic Acoustic group Pinniped, and the
Dunedin Celtic Rock band, Maud Gonne. A brief search of

19
Cattlin, Edward, fl 1827-1840: Journals, 2 vols (Photocopied from the originals in 1970).
These photocopied volumes are held by The National Library of New Zealand.
The Whale Road: Transitions 101

<www.YouTube.com> also produces a range of recent recordings of the

track including a spirited live performance by a New Zealand bush band
called The Royal Fortune. The song is also listed—with a detailed
historical explanation and transcription on <www.folksong.org.nz>.20
Remembering the significance the Weller brother’s Ōtākou station, in
1931, the local Ngāi Tahu Māori invited members of their iwi from the
entire South Island to celebrate the arrival of whalers one hundred years
earlier in 1831. Lord Bledisloe (who the Bledisloe Cup is named after),
the then Governor General of New Zealand, spoke at the official
proceedings of that celebration regarding the Weller’s station—of which
he said:

This rock is said to mark the site of the first British Settlement… if in
such an unsettled atmosphere the Weller’s whaling station… could be
so described. They seemed to have brought in the ‘Lucy Ann’ a good
deal of rum and a good deal of gunpowder… and some at least were
rum characters.21

Arguably Lord Bledisloe’s view of early whalers was at least in part

consistent with many of their contemporaries, such as Edward
Wakefield, who wrote in 1845 that:

The frankness and manly courage of the sailor mingle with the cunning
and reckless daring of the convict, or “lag,” in no common manner.
Though prone to drunkenness and its attendant evils, the whaler is
hospitable in the extreme, and his rough-built house is a model of
cleanliness and order’22

Of greater significance here however is the prominent place that Ngāi

Tahu have attributed to the Ōtākou station in the history of the region
and the development, within the region, of relations and understandings
between Māori and Pākehā.

20
David Coffin, ‘Soon May the Wellermen Come’, Daviid Coffin and the Natucket
Sleighride, Track 4 (Digital CD, Good Dog Records, 2008)
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TUV17K/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp/184-0933369
-1397625> [accessed 20 October 2014]. Pinniped, ‘Soon May the Wellermen Come’, Toe
in the Water, Track 2 (Digital CD, Mark Iler of Greyhawk Productions, 2013)
<http://pinnipedmusic.com/album/toe-in-the-water> [accessed 20 October 2014]. The
Royal Fortune, ‘Soon May the Wellermen Come: New Zealand Sea Shanty’, (20 April
2013) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9i2gv_XQtw&safe=active> [accessed 20
October 2014].
21
Lord Bledisloe in Erik Olssen, A history of Otago (Dunedin, John McIndoe Limited,
1984), p.197.
22
Wakefield, Edward Jerningham, Adventure in New Zealand (John Murray, London,
1845), vol. 1, pp.311–312.
102 A. Asbjørn Jøn

Looking at just the stretch of coast from Moeraki to Riverton other

stations were established at Omāui (1830s), Toetoes (Fortrose—1835-
1836), Oue (1836-1838), Riverton (1835-1840s), Moeraki (Boxing Day
1836-1846), Waikouaiti (1837-1847), Purakanui (1837-1838), Bluff
(1838–1846), Port Molyneux (1838), Waikawa (1838-1840), Taieri
Island (1839-1840s), Tautuku Peninsula (1839-1846) and Tokanui
(1840s). Each of those whaling stations has stories to tell that make
notable contributions to the early pioneering history and lore of the deep
south of New Zealand.
The Moeraki station is probably of interest for a range of reasons—
not least of which being that prior to the arrival of shore whalers in 1836
the region had featured in the Sealer’s War during 1814, when a party of
eight under the command of Robert Brown, including five lascars and
two Europeans, were killed and eaten. When the whaling station was
established in 1836 it was founded by several men from the Weller
brother’s Ōtākou station. The most interesting thing about this station is
that unlike the Ōtākou station it is believed to have been near alcohol
free. In terms of cross-cultural interactions it is believed that the Moeraki
whalers maintained excellent relations with Māori and that many of them
married local Māori women and remained in the region even after the
closure of the station.
The Waikouaiti station is also of significant interest—however
primarily due to it being established by John ‘Johnny’ Jones. Waikouaiti
is located approximately half way between Moeraki and Dunedin.
Johnny Jones was an Australian, born in Sydney, who came to New
Zealand and purchased a whaling station and land in Waikouaiti—and at
the same time a large parcel of the present day North and Central Otago
from chief Hone Tuhawaiki—the same chief who Edward Cattlin
purchased The Catlins from. While most of that purchase was quashed
Johnny Jones managed to retain about 11,000 acres.
Notably it was Johnny Jones that founded the Harbour Steam
Navigation Company which was an important forerunner to the highly
influential Union Steamship Company which was formed by James Mills
(who had been helping run the Harbour Steam Navigation Company)
shortly after Jones’ death.
Stations in the eastern Murihiku region generally began operation
later, and were more short lived, than ones such as Preservation Inlet in
Fiordland which ran from 1829 until 1839. Whaling had largely faded as
a full time occupation by 1850, with mostly only occasional work
available in the industry.
Like the name of The Catlins region—as discussed above -, the
southern Otago and Southland coastline is scattered with place names
that similarly record the close historical bond between whalers, many of
The Whale Road: Transitions 103

whom were Australian, and the landscape. The Australian Thomas

(Tommy) Chaseland (1802/1803-1869), born to an English father (a
convict also named Thomas Chaseland who had been convicted in
Middlesex, on October 26 1791, and then transported to Port Jackson
upon the Royal Admiral) and an Australian Aboriginal mother came to
be one of the most notable whalers within New Zealand. It is understood
from ship records that Chaseland eventually departed Australia working
on the Nereus under Captain Emmett in 1824 on a voyage to transport
convicts and then go sealing—and appears that Chaseland departed the
vessel in the region of Foveaux Strait to begin his New Zealand career—
as no later record of him exists in the crew or passenger lists of
Australian ports.
Reasonable records exist showing to show that Chaseland worked as a
sealer, whaler and pilot in and around Stewart Island, Southland, Otago
and The Chatham Islands—where he was wrecked. We also know that
Chaseland married a Māori lady named Puna who was thought to be a
powerful tohunga. Traditions of the southern Māori record that after the
wreck the two ‘built a boat & put sufficient food on it & came back [... to
Otago]. She was a great tohunga & pulled one of her hairs, said a karakia
& put it in the sea, so they had a safe voyage and landed at Moeraki.’23 It
is significant that such a tale is recounted in the traditions of southern
Māori as it demonstrates not only the firm belief in spiritualism and
tohunga lore during this period, but also both gives a concrete example
of that lore being transferred and shared in the lives of takata pora while
clearly highlighting the elevated place of Chaseland and Puna as
individuals of note within a Māori historical context. From both folkloric
and anthropological standpoints this is a significant episode.
Of greatest note, regarding his whaling career, is a short period in
1835 when at Toe-Toes (on the mouth of the Mataura River) in The
Catlins, Chaseland and his then partner James Brown took 11 whales in
17 days. While oil was lost due to a lack of suitable containers to store it
in. That feat quickly gained Chaseland much notoriety with reports that it
was ‘the greatest feat of the kind ever performed in the country’
circulating.24 Chaseland also worked a variety of other whaling jobs
within the region—in 1844 he managed the Taieri Mouth station on
behalf of owner Johnny Jones, and then in 1848 we know he worked the
Tautuku station. There are a number of notable episodes during his years
on the coast—the most exciting of which recounts that when coming up
too close upon a whale one day Chaseland’s boat was broken up by the
23
Beattie, Herries, Nigel Prickett, ‘Trans-Tasman stories: Australian Aboriginies in New
Zealand Sealing and Shore Whaling’, in Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, Seafaring and
the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes, ed. by Geoffrey R. Clark, Foss Leach and Sue
O’Conner (Australian National University Press, 2008), pp.351-366 (p.353).
24
Shortland, Edward, The Southern Districts of New Zealand (London: Longman, Brown,
Green and Longmans, 1851), p.145.
104 A. Asbjørn Jøn

whale’s fluke and sank. All bar Chaseland and two other men drowned—
with the three of them holding onto a piece of wreckage to stay afloat.
Eventually—with a heavy fog setting in—Chaseland set off swimming,
volunteering to seek help from shore. A boat eventually rescued the other
two men but no one could locate Chaseland until sometime later when he
was spotted coming up to shore, naked, having swam six miles back to
the station.25

Try pot (2011.238)—from the Tautuku station and used between 1839 and
1843. (Try pots were used to remove and render cetacean oil from blubber.
Sometimes these were also used on pinnipeds and penguins. The flat sides
allowed them to fit closely together and to conserve heat.) Item from the Owaka
Museum.

25
On this tale see: John Wilson, Reminiscences of Early Settlement of Dunedin and South
Otago (Dunedin, 1912), pp.3-4.
The Whale Road: Transitions 105

Chaslands, and Chaslands Mistake, in the southern end of The Catlins,

take their names from Chaseland. Those place names once again confirm
the way that communities have engaged with whalers and whaling
stations as part of the process regional identity formation—and also sit
within the broader context of place names being a tool through which we
can read the stories of a region. Notably this also provides another link
between the region and seafarers from Australia.
The early shore whaling stations of New Zealand are of particular
interest for a number of reasons. As Nigel Prickett of the Auckland War
Memorial Museum has identified they are ‘places where Māori and
Pākehā [including escaped Australian convicts and the offspring of
convicts] first came together for a common end, many stations can throw
light on the process of early contact between European and Maori. The
period and its outcomes were important in our history.’26 Notably their
evidence also provides key insights into the early process of European
settlement within New Zealand. A distinct cultural shift here is that
unlike the earlier and more transient sealing workers the whalers tended
to settle within the south after the whaling industry collapsed. It is
important not to under-estimate the power of cultural transference in
pioneering communities where they have sustained regular contact with
indigenous peoples. This can be likened to the widely explored influence
of traveller’s tales in creating small shifts and slow metamorphosis of the
weltanshauung to each absorb some elements from the other.

Whaling Station Links With Māori Whalebone Carvings

The accelerating demand for Māori artefacts spurred the whale bone
carving industry to meet the demands of European trade and exchange,
and the number of whale bone items being manufactured – particularly
weapons such as patu – dramatically increased [after the
commencement of pākehā-led commercial whaling] as shown by the
relatively large number of whale bone artefacts of post-European
contact manufacture in New Zealand museum collections.27

26
Prickett, Nigel, The Archaeology of New Zealand Shore Whaling, National Historic
Heritage Workshop (The Department of Conservation - Te Papa Atawhai, Wellington,
September 2002).
27
Cunliffe, Emily A., ‘Whales and Whale Bone Technology in New Zealand Prehistory’,
pp. 36-37.
106 A. Asbjørn Jøn

Demand for whale bone carvings, as well as a range of other Māori

traditional artworks—sometimes even including mokomokai (preserved
severed Māori heads covered with tā moko)—fed not only domestic
collections but also museums, art galleries and private curiosity
cupboards in Australia, North America and Europe.28 Despite the market
for whale bone carving flourishing at a time where it could feed off a by-
product of the Pākehā-led whaling industry it is clear that Māori
possessed a deep cultural history of using whales in that way prior to
European settlement. It should also be noted that the designs in the
period after the introduction of commercial whaling include little
variation from earlier pieces.

Scrimshaw of trees and floral motifs carved on the lower jaw of a Long-finned
Pilot Whale. Item from the Owaka Museum.

28
See T. Dunbabin, ‘A Strange Trade: Deals in Maori Heads’, Sydney Sun (21 January
1923).
The Whale Road: Transitions 107

That high level of demand for Māori artefacts, such as traditional

whalebone carvings, continues today. In 2012 Christie’s ran an auction
titled ‘Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas’. Lot 8 of that auction
was a c.19th century hand carved whale bone Kotiate, or hand club. That
piece had a detailed beaked tiki head carving on the handle butt. The
estimated auction price for this Kotiate was 20,000–30,000 USD
however the hammer sale price ended at 60,000 USD.
Alongside the flourishing market for Māori whalebone carvings was
the development of a burgeoning market for New Zealand whalebone
scrimshaw. Shrimshaw—an art tradition of engraving, carving or
scrollworking bone and ivory that has a strong link to pieces made from
the bones of marine mammals.

International Shifts from Whaling to Whale Conservation and Their

Regional Impact
In 1931 the Geneva Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was
signed, marking the first attempt to regulate whaling, in the same year
that a record catch of 29,410 blue whales were killed in the Antarctic. In
New Zealand Southern Right Whales became a protected species in
1935. With global recognition of whales slowly beginning to take hold
1936 saw the signing of the International Agreement for the Regulation
of Whaling in London. Notably however 1937 saw the 46,039 whales
killed in Antarctica.29
During 1946 the International Convention for the Regulation of
Whaling was signed by fifteen nations in Washington D.C.—using the
International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling as a precursor
document. The Convention was set out to govern the use of whales
including aboriginal subsistence whaling, the scientific use of whales and
commercial operations, and the International Whaling Commission was
formed as an body to implement and govern the Convention. There have
however been several disagreements between nations over the scope and
authority of the Convention and the Commission respectively. New
Zealand was a founding member of the International Whaling
Commission.
Whaling was finally abandoned in New Zealand in December 1964.
The decision to abandon whaling was admittedly largely due to a fall in
economic viability at the time, however it arguably allowed for a
groundswell of anti-whaling sentiment to gain a more substantive

29
See ‘Convention for the Regulation of Whaling’, The American Journal of International
Law, 30.4, Supplement: Official Documents (Oct., 1936), 167-174. On whale kill
numbers by year, see Kieran Mulvaney, The Whaling Season: An Inside Account of the
Struggle to Stop Commercial Whaling (Shearwater Books, 2003).
108 A. Asbjørn Jøn

foothold. The last station to operate was Perano station—located in the

Tory Channel of the South Island’s Marlborough Sounds.
During the 1970s, shortly after the closure of the Perano station, the
global community began showing an increased interest in the burgeoning
anti-whaling movement. At the 1972 United Nations Conference on the
Human Environment a proposal was adopted that recommended a
decade-long moratorium on commercial whaling.30 The goal of that
moratorium was to allow whale stocks to replenish—and during the
intervening years several studies showed that several whale species were
possibly heading rapidly toward extinction. It was at this time that a
wider number of states began to join the International Whaling
Commission. In 1975 Greenpeace made their first anti-whaling voyage in
the North Pacific. Other conservation societies of note to the preservation
of whales were also formed in the late 1970s. In 1977 Captain Paul
Watson, formerly a member of Greenpeace, founded the Earth Force
Society—which would become the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society—in Canada, with the goal of protecting marine mammals and
ending illegal whaling and sealing. The Earth Force Society purchased
its first vessel in 1978 and renamed it the Sea Shepherd. This contributed
to the shift in name to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
In 1978 all marine mammals gained protection under New Zealand
law—notably New Zealand was the first nation to protect marine
mammals in such a way by law. Notably 1978 also saw the closure of the
last whaling station in Australia (Cheynes Beach Whaling Company, in
Western Australia). Following the closure of that station Australia
became more actively involved in international anti-whaling debate—
adopting an anti-whaling policy in 1979 that permanently ended whaling
in their waters and taking on a leadership role in international protection
and conservation efforts. 1979 also marked the International Whaling
Commission declaring the Indian Ocean, north of 55°S, a sanctuary for
whales, and banning pelagic factory-ship whaling for all whale species
except minke whales.
As the 1980’s dawned anti-whaling nations grew stronger in their
resolve to end all whaling in line with swelling public interest in and
support for cetaceans. Eventually on 23 July 1982 the International
Whaling Commission voted, with a 25-7 majority, to effect a pause on
commercial whaling. The pause began in 1985. This however was not a
pause to all whaling as both both scientific research and aboriginal
subsistence provisions existed in International Whaling Commission
rules—allowing some states to continue to whale under those auspices.

30
See ‘Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment’, U.N. Doc.
A/Conf.49/14/Rev.1, 11 I.L.M. 1416 (1972): and; ‘Stockholm Action Plan,
Recommendation’ 33, U.N. Doc. A/Conf.49/14/Rev.1, 11 I.L.M. 1421 (1972).
The Whale Road: Transitions 109

Since that time nations including Japan have continued whaling, making
substantive numbers of whale kills, for scientific purposes in the
Southern Hemisphere. Both the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and
Greenpeace have sent vessels to intercept and deter the Japanese whaling
efforts in the Antarctic since that time.
In 1987 the South Island town of Kaikoura began the development of
New Zealand’s core whale watching eco-tourism industry, Whale Watch.
While mainstream banking institutions refused to assist with the
formation of Whale Watch in 1987, a local iwi group, Ngāti Kuri, was
able to obtain funding from an indigenous people’s bank using their
assets as security. That same year saw Ihimaera’s Whale Rider published.
Operation started in 1989 with a single vessel taking members of the
general public on whale watching tours, and Whale Watch quickly
gained in notoriety as a quality eco-tourism provider with a high level of
environmental integrity. The initial expansions of Whale Watch were
made possible when Ngāti Kuri approached the Ngai Tahu Māori Trust
Board (which is their tribal authority) and gained additional funding—
with the Trust Board buying a major shareholding.

More Reflections of Whales as 21st Century taonga

Leading into the 21st Century one goal of New Zealand foreign policy
was the creation of a twelve million square kilometer South Pacific
Whale Sanctuary. This policy was widely publicised within New Zealand
and generally accepted to be in keeping with broader attitudes towards
conservation. The proposal was however strongly opposed by Japan and
was defeated at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in
2000 in Australia. New Zealand and Australia campaigned strongly for
that decision to be overturned with arguments that the sanctuary would
not only protect the living cultural heritage of the region but also ensure
a sustainable economic boost through regional growth industries such as
whale watching and other eco-tourism concerns.31 Notably however not
all groups within New Zealand supported the proposal—a delegation
representing Te Ohu Kaimoana, a Māori trust which advocates for
indigenous fisheries rights, lobbied against the proposal with their
representative Archie Taiaroa telling the International Whaling
Commission that:

The sanctuary proposal [...] undermines the principles of sustainable

use, and considering Maori own about 40 percent of New Zealand’s
commercial fisheries,it is absolutely essential that we base all our

31
See ‘New Zealand Under Attack for Whale Sanctuary Plan’, The New Zealand Herald (24
July 2001). <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=201826>
[accessed 20 August 2014].
110 A. Asbjørn Jøn

decisions on the best available traditional ecological knowledge of

Maori.32

The New Zealand and Australian governments continued to lobby

strongly for the establishment of whale sanctuaries and the cessation of
commercial whaling. Notably during this period groups such as
Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society became even
more active in their opposition to whaling fleets as well.
Then in 2002 Niki Caro released his film interpretation of Ihimaera’s
Whale Rider—a film that is still often used as a teaching text in New
Zealand secondary schools to highlight the unique culture and the values
of the nation. The international award winning film has been globally
recognised as an important post-colonial indigenous story that not only
empowers women and draws links to legend but also presents a message
about ecological and cultural sustainability. It’s role as a film that
invokes principles of sustainability, and hence kaitiakitanga towards the
natural environment and culture, has been highlighted by the global
academic community—as an example of that Dr. Adrian Ivakhiv of the
University of Vermont has used Whale Rider as a text for his
‘Ecopolitics and the Cinema’ ENVS295 course.
New Zealand popular culture also continued to draw upon
traditionally mythicized representations of the sea. The 2007 video clip
for Tiki Taane’s first single, Tangaroa, includes lyrics about the
spiritualized landscape and the role of Tangaroa as well as imagery that
draws on several traditional Māori cultural elements such as tā moko,
traditional Māori costume—most often used for Kapa Haka
performances in the contemporary period—and a natural rocky outcrop
that rises from the sea in the shape of the head of a whale. The track
includes several traditional performance styles in terms of chanting,
dance and the use of both poi (swinging tethered weights) and tiaha.
Arguably the style of some sections of the vocal melody also have
traditional analogues.33 That contemporary music video seamlessly ties a
wide range of traditional cultural icons, presenting the significance of the
ocean—and tapu ocean creatures like whales through the symbolic use of
whale shaped landscapes (perhaps further spiritualizing the landscape in
the process)—to positively engage youth with Māori ideologies, values
and culture. In terms of the link for whales and mythicized landscapes
here it is important to remember the use of landscape in the novel Whale
Rider and the comments about landscape with regards to the film version

32
Taiaroa, Archie, in ‘NZ says YES! Maori say NO!’, The International Harpoon,
International Whaling Commission, 53 (London, 24 July 2001), p. 2.
33
Tiki Taane, ‘TANGAROA: God of the Sea: Tiki Taane’, YouTube.com (Uploaded on 23
August 2007). <https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=JNDiFxY6n-k&list=TLQjVSFUcf
1Ii1ikJmtxZ16gU4sVcWeb_4> [accessed 16 September 2014].
The Whale Road: Transitions 111

of that text. We should also recall the aforementioned whale shaped hills
who were named Te Ara-a-Paikea in recognition of the cultural
significance of their shape.
Also in 2007, on December 1, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa
Tongarewa opened an exhibition titled ‘Whales|Tohorā’ presenting one
of the world’s largest whales and whaling collections. The
Whales|Tohorā’ quickly received over 140,000 visitors at Te Papa—
helping shape public opinion and build a widespread level of knowledge
about the history of whaling within New Zealand. The exhibition was
such a success that it was booked to tour the United States of America
and Canada from 2008 until 2015.
As the ‘Whales|Tohorā’ left New Zealand to begin touring in 2008
two members of Greenpeace, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, were
arrested on June 20th in Japan over their work to investigate the sales of
whale meat and links between whale meat sales and Japan’s scientific
research whale kills—once more drawing a tighter focus on whaling
within the public domain. Their investigation had led to Sato and Suzuki
presenting a box of whale meat which had been stolen by the crew of
Japan's scientific whaling fleet to the Tokyo Public Prosecutor on May
15th arguing that it clearly demonstrated commercial links to the whale
kills. Greenpeace supporters argued that Sato and Suzuki should have
been viewed as whistleblowers. In September 2010 they were eventually
convicted of having stolen the whale meat and trespassing by the Aomori
District Court. Notably it was also in 2008 that the conflict between
whalers and anti-whaling organizations became more clearly displayed to
the general public through Animal Planet’s cable television series called
Whale Wars.
While whaling has continued to be debated, and largely opposed,
within meetings of the International Whaling Commission anti-whaling
conservation groups have taken a more active role in the campaign
against commercial whaling. In 2010 a Kiwi anti-whaling activist, Peter
Bethune—a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and
captain of the Andy Gil until it sank after colliding with a Japanese
whaling vessel. Bethune was detained by Japanese authorities for
interfering with Japanese whalers, and assaulting them by throwing
projectiles, then boarding a Japanese vessel unlawfully. Like Sato and
Suzuki he was convicted and received a suspended sentence. During
Bethune’s captivity and court case the New Zealand media closely
followed all developments—sparking further public awareness of
conservation campaigns. The fact that Bethune was a New Zealander
was strongly highlighted.
Also in 2010, on May 31st, the Australian government lodged
proceedings against Japan with the International Court of Justice in an
effort to have their scientific whaling expeditions halted. On February
112 A. Asbjørn Jøn

6th 2013 New Zealand then followed up by filing a Declaration of

Intervention—becoming an ‘intervening state’ with their own
submission—in support of halting Japanese whaling. As a result of those
actions, in 2014, Japan was ordered to cease its scientific research
whaling operation in the Southern Ocean in a 12-4 judgement by judges
at The International Court of Justice—who agreed with the plaintiff
(Australia) that the number of whales being killed could not be justified
by the claimed purpose of their deaths.34

In the South Island

Throughout New Zealand’s South Island links to our whaling history,
our spiritual connection to whales through traditional legends, and our
whale watching present, are maintained. Riverton (also called Aparima
after the regions original Māori settlement), a small town on the shores
of the Jacobs River Estuary about twenty minutes drive from
Invercargill, which can trace early origins for the settlement to the
establishment of a whaling station in the 1830s by John Howell, there is
a giant whale statue. The giant whale statue is located in the playground
at Taramea Bay and features on several tourism reports about the
Riverton area. That statue reflects the deep connection that the Riverton
region possesses to whales, and shows continued engagement with whale
themes by the popular consciousness.
The region discussed above regarding coast whaling stations, roughly
the Otago and Foveaux Strait region, includes an active cultural response
to whales—in terms of visual arts, community theatre, the exhibitions of
ecology festivals like ‘Seaweek’ and regular research topics at the
University of Otago.35 Museums along that stretch of coast also hold well
developed regional museum coverage of whales and whaling—with
whaling being a feature within the ‘Southern Land, Southern People’
gallery at the Otago Museum in Dunedin (as well as carved whale bone
34
See ‘Japan Ordered to Halt Whaling’, The Otago Daily Times (1 April 2014).
<http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/297302/japan-ordered-halt-whaling> [accessed on 15
August 2014]., and, ‘Warning Japan may sidestep whaling ban’, The Otago Daily Times
(1 April 2014). <http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/ 297320/warning-japan-may-
sidestep-whaling-ban> [accessed 15 August 2014].
35
The 2014 Seaweek celebrations in Dunedin included short films such as ‘Once a Pod of
Whales’ by Vanessa Marshall and Sara Kultz, and ‘On the back of whales’ by Mio
Hoshino. See ‘Seaweek 2014 film screening: our fragile taonga’, The Otago Daily Times
(5 March 2014). <http://www.odt.co.nz/events/general/ 293984/seaweek-2014-film-
screening-our-fragile-finite-taonga> [accessed 21 August 2014]. In terms of community
theatrical performances one might consider a performance crafted by Louise Potiki
Bryant, 2014 Caroline Plummer Fellow at the University of Otago, titled ‘Whakaahua:
Coming to Form’, which was performed at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum during the
Puaka Matariki midwinter festival. ‘The performance is based on a Ngai Tahu version of
the story Tinirau and Kae.’ Charmian Smith, ‘Stepping Through Time’, The Otago Daily
Times (19 June 2014). <http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/arts/306331/stepping-
through-time> [accessed 20 August 2014].
The Whale Road: Transitions 113

artefacts and an entire whale skeleton appearing elsewhere in the

museum), and smaller museums such as; the Port Chalmers Maritime
Museum, South Otago Museum (Balclutha), Waikawa Museum and
Information Center and the Bluff Maritime Museum, all holding
interesting collections regarding whaling of varying scope; while
Invercargill’s Southland Museum and Art Gallery opened a detailed
exhibition in June 2014 titled ‘Southern Seas: Whales, Whaling and the
Antarctic’. That exhibition explores, in depth: whale evolution, Māori
spiritual and legendary traditions of whales, the southern whaling
industries and the recent efforts of conservation organizations and anti-
whaling governments to save whales from their predicted extinction. As
an example of a another significant collection the ‘Kāi Tahu’ gallery at
Dunedin’s Toitū Otago Settlers Museum includes a range of artefacts
including a whaling boat—the Maori Girl (which was built in 1871 for
Waikouaiti whalers Tame Parata and Parahu Tira)—a (blubber) try pot,
tripods, harpoons, flensing tools and whale products.
The Owaka Museum and Catlins Information Centre also contains a
well developed whaling collection that has been presented in a modern
interactive display. One important part of our visual record of southern
New Zealand whaling, within the Owaka collect, is a black and white
print (CT78.371) showing two ships at sea. It is believed that the print is
an image of the Splendid which was a whaling barque that worked from
both Foveaux Strait and Port Chalmers before moving north to whale in
the Bay of Islands. Notably in 1880, while she was docked in Port
Chalmers, the Otago Daily Times published a lively account of the
Splendid’s whaling efforts under Captain Soule, around the South Seas
(including several diverse locations such as Stewart Island and Wallis
Island). That account spoke not only of the capture of whales but also of
the danger to crew during events such as a whaling boat being destroyed
when it went under the Splendid—with its crew needing to be fished out
of the ocean—and in a separate incident the boat-steerer, John Oaho,
breaking his leg whilst cutting in a whale after it was killed.36 A wide
range of interesting reports about the movements of the Splendid feature
in the records of the region. The Owaka collection also includes a range
of other interesting items including the scrimshaw on whalebone and
whaler’s try pot depicted above, harpoons and tools consistent with the
kinds used at the Tautuku station and a range of whale bones and
supporting documents. The prominence of whaling in the display clearly
demonstrates the importance of the industry to the regions pioneering
history and early identity formation.
Dunedin based artist Peter Fleming—whose genealogical heritage
includes one of the early Riverton whalers—has also made a series of

36
See ‘Shipping’, Otago Daily Times, Issue 5686 (11 May 1880), p. 2.
114 A. Asbjørn Jøn

whale sculptures. Amongst other locations Fleming’s statues were

exhibited in Dunedin’s Wall Street Mall. Fleming has campaigned for
the sculptures to be installed at all of Otago’s early whaling stations,
especially around the Dunedin region, as a way of linking to past
traditions and providing a strong visual tie to that history for tourists and
visitors to the region.37
Kaikoura now boasts an impressive array of whale watching options
with not only the boat based Whale Watch, which is arguably the most
recognised of New Zealand’s eco-tourism operators, but also whale
watching flights with the Wings over Whales company. Wings over
Whales boast an impressive sightings rate for sperm whales of over 95%.
On the 6th of August 2014 the New Zealand government created a
Whale Sanctuary of 4696 square kilometres in the Kaikoura region. Dr
Nick Smith, the New Zealand Conservation Minister, explained that:

Kaikōura has the most biologically rich ocean environment in the world
at over 500 metres’ depth with its deep canyons so close to shore. This
extraordinary marine environment needs the recognition and protection
of these new reserves, sanctuaries and the tighter fishing limits that are
being signed into effect tomorrow [...] It is fitting that New Zealand’s
first whale sanctuary is in the area of Whale Watch which now supports
a $134 million per year tourism industry.38

Coupled with the whale reserve the government also created the Ohau
Point Fur Seal Sanctuary and the Hikurangi Marine Reserve
simultaneously. One interesting observation that can be made here is the
shift in roles from the kaitiaki position of whales towards humans during
the period of the Māori migrations from Hawaiki to the kaitiaki position
of humans towards whales in trying to conserve and protect them
following a near global recognition that the actions of the global whaling
industry of the 19th and 20th centuries were far less than appropriate.
Some scholarly debate has taken place within New Zealand about the
ecological sustainability of whale watching. Professor James Higham of
the University of Otago noted that whales specifically, and cetaceans
generally, have in some—but not all—cases suffered from the stress on
feeding grounds and interruptions to behaviour patterns caused by
overuse of wildlife tours within their habitats. Higham edited a
thoughtful study on this topic titled Whale-watching: Sustainable

37
See Nigel Benson, ‘Artist’s Tall Tails Displayed in Mall’, The Otago Daily Times (1 June
2012) <http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/211552/artists-tall-tails-displayed-mall>
[accessed 18 August 2014].
38
Smith, Nick, ‘New Whale Sanctuary, Fur Seal Sanctuary and Marine Reserve Opened’,
beehive.govt.nz: The official website of the New Zealand Government (6 August 2014).
<http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-whale-sanctuary-fur-seal-sanctuary-and-
marine-reserve-opened> [accessed 27 August 2014].
The Whale Road: Transitions 115

Tourism and Ecological Management highlighting those potential issues

and setting out a framework for future thought in terms of planning for
the conservation of cetaceans that considers that non-consumptive
enterprises like whale watching might have on natural habitats or animal
activity patterns.39 Notably however the current Kaikoura commercial
whale watching has been shown several times to be a best practice
model. That study highlights, and is in keeping with, a deep commitment
within the broader New Zealand public to the preservation of whales as a
global taonga.

Final Thoughts
It is clear that whales were not only sacred beasts of Māori legend and
myth but that they also played an integral role in Māori history through
their connection to migration patterns, their role in sustenance provisions
and their use to make a wide range of tools, weapons and ornaments
(including sacred objects). The whale has featured heavily in the artistic
expression of New Zealanders from the time of the first Māori New
Zealanders until the present day. As a society our transition from
originally viewing whales as a sacred part of the world, and only utilising
them when provided as gifts by Tangaroa, to a consumptive model of
whaling was arguably fueled by financial greed—however that process
did aid deeply in the settlement of our nation. The present shift towards
conservation efforts, in keeping with global attitudes toward cetaceans,
has occurred seemingly in parallel with a revitalization of the respect
towards and use of whales in artistic expression throughout New
Zealand. The whale is an important cultural symbol whose history in the
Southern Pacific this region is obviously tightly tied to the history,
culture and imagination of New Zealand as a nation.

* *

References
31 March 2014 Judgement: Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan: New
Zealand intervening), General List No.148 (International Court of Justice, 31
March 2014). <http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/148/18136.pdf> [accessed
20 August 2014].
Barnett, John, in Notes About the Location, press release (South Pacific
Pictures). <http://www.whaleriderthemovie.co.nz/html/location_notes.html>
[accessed 5 September 2014].

39
Whale-watching: Sustainable Tourism and Ecological Management, ed. by James
Higham, Lars Bejder and Rob Williams (Cambridge University Press, 2014). On this line
of argument see also: Marine Wildlife and Tourism Management: Insights from the
Natural and Social Sciences, ed. by James Higham and Michael Lück (CABI, 2007).
116 A. Asbjørn Jøn

Campbell, Joseph, Occidental Mythology (Arkana, 1991), p. 520. ‘Because

myth relates the gesta of Supernatural Beings and the manifestations of their
sacred powers, it becomes the exemplary model for all human activities.’
Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality, trans. by Willard R. Trask (Harper and
Row, 1963)
David K. Caldwell, Melba C. Caldwell and Dale W. Rice, ‘Behaviour of the
Sperm Whale, Physeter catodon L.’, Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, ed. by
Kenneth Stafford Norris (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press,
1977), 677-718
Elsdon Best, ‘Notes on the art of war as conducted by the Maori of New
Zealand, with accounts of various customs, rites superstitions, & pertaining
to war, as practiced and believed in by the ancient Maori’, Journal of the
Polynesian Society, 11.3 (1902), 127-162.
Grim, John, ‘Knowing and Being Known by Animals: Indigenous Perspectives
on Personhood’, in A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science,
and Ethics, ed. by Paul Waldau and Kimberley Patton (New York, NY:
Columbia University Press, 2006),
Gudgeon, W.E., ‘The Maori Tribes of the East Coast of New Zealand’, Journal
of the Polynesian Society, 4.1 (1895), 17-32 (p.19).
Rawinia R. Higgins explores some links between niho taniwha motifs on
tukutuku panels and tā moko kauae (traditional Māori female chin tattooing)
in ‘He Tänga Ngutu, He Tühoetanga, Te Mana Motuhake o te Tä Moko
Wähine: The Identity Politics of Moko Kauae’ (unpublished doctoral thesis,
The University of Otago, 2004),
Roi Toia, Todd Couper, and Carolyn Lagahetau, Kāhui whetū - Contemporary
Māori Art: A Carver's Perspective (Reed Books, 2006).
Smith, Ian W.G., ‘Sea Mammal Hunting and Prehistoric Subsistence in New
Zealand’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Otago, 1985)

* * *

Place Names
Readers will be pleased to note the further progress of the Journal of the
English Place Name Society, volume 45 appearing in 2013.
While there have been no recent survey volumes, work on Shropshire is far
advanced, and should soon appear.
Active fieldwork is continuing for Cornwall, and Shropshire, and there is
imminent Dr Cavill’s new edition of John Field’s Dictionary of English Field-
Names.
All of this work is likely to have flowon effects for the study of the place
names in Australia that have a significant link to settlement and land use in this
country.
JSR.